Monthly Archives: March 2009

Homecoming Highs for Helensburgh and Lomond

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Hill House, Jeremy AthertonHelensburgh and Lomond’s Homecoming 2009 celebrations include some cracking events. They’re run by the Friends of Victorial Hall (FOVH, now a registered Scottish charity) and held in this much loved Helensburgh Hall.

These are all in the Events Calendar and we’ll remind you of them nearer their dates but for some – like the Helensburgh Homecoming Ball and the Food Fair, you’ll need to act soon to buy tickets or book a space.

  • The JLB Sandwich

john logie bairdThis is an inspired idea with a snappy title that grabs the imagination. Yes, its designed to replace the BLT but forget trying to work out the contents. It’s not Jam / Lettuce / Brie. It’s John Logie Baird, Helensburgh’s famous son and inventor of television.

You submit your recipe for a JLB sandwich. Entries will be judged by a panel of local ‘experts’ who have given up dieting for the duration. Five finalists will be shortlisted.

Then – on 30th May – the Head Chef of Helensburgh’s Logie Baird Pub will supervise the preparation of the competing JLB sandwiches. These will be put to the taste by a panel of judges chose by the event sponsors, Your Radio – and Your Radio will have and share the fun by providing live transmission of the chew out.

The winning JLB sandwich will go on the menu at the Logie Baird pub and its inventor will receive a commemorative trophy.

  • The Helensburgh and Lomond Homecoming Ball

Designed to be a precursor to the resurrection of the famous Helensburgh Charity Ball of thirty years ago, this gala event – on Saturday the 30th May in the Victoria Hall – will feature Scotland’s ‘King of Swing’, Harry Margolis and his Glenn Miller style swing band.

This is planned as an elegant, black tie occasion with good cuisine and a chance for Homecoming Friends to remember the Helensburgh evenings of yesteryear.

Tickets for this stylish event  are selling well so contact organiser Tony Dance (tony.dance@viton.org.uk) quickly if you want tickets or a table.

  • The Franco Scottish Week

Around seventy official visitors -  as well as lot more coming home for the event – will be in Helenburgh for this week. It’s programme of events is run in partnership with the Helensburgh / Thouars Twinning Association.

Between 27th July and 1st August a group of about 100 guests and hosts will visit Mount Stuart on Bute, probably on Thursday 30th July. The week will culminate with a Civic Reception – in the evening of 31st July – in the Victoria Hall, supported by FOVH and hosted jointly by Councillor William Petrie, Provost of Argyll and Bute Council and by Councillor Vivien Dance, Chair of the Friends of Victoria Hall.

FOVH are in negotiations with a local hotel to provide a buffet meal for this reception, created entirely from food and beverages produced in Argyll and Bute. This meal will be prepared and presented by their Head Chef in the Victoria Hall.

  • The Argyll and Bute Food and Craft Fair

The programme for Helensburgh’s Franco Scottish Week is planned to include a Food and Craft Fair – on Friday the 31st July – restricted to food, drink and crafts produced or processed in Argyll and Bute. If the number of exhibitors and the level of interest suggests that it would be commercially worthwhile, this event may extend to a second day.

Helensburgh is already Argyll’s largest town by a formidable margin – it represents around a third of the population of the entire area. It also sits alongside Dumbarton sharing a local radio service. (Your Radio has studios and individualised services for both towns.) Traditionally, with its genteel Clydeside location and its heritage, Helenburgh attracts visitors from nearby Glasgow.

This ‘touch and taste’ event is potentially a powerful opportunity for food, drink and crafts businesses from all over Argyll and the Islands to get their products into the awareness of a much bigger audience – first hand. It can also reinforce the advantages in the Buy Local campaign. Helensburgh’s residents tend to look to Glasgow for their specialist products. This fair can turn their many eyes to the superior quality of food, drink and crafts produced in Argyll.

With enough participants this fair could be held in Colquhoun Square, Helensburgh’s open and attractive Town Centre. This would require road closures – which itself adds to the fun and the public attention. However, arranging this takes time – so if you’re planning to take your business to the fair, confirm it now through Tony Dance (tony.dance@viton.org.uk). Advance knowledge of numbers will let the organisers make all necessary arrangements in good time.

Local radio station – Your Radio – will be broadcasting live from this event to West Dunbartonshire, Clydebank and across the Clyde to Greenock and Port Glasgow. Fun side events are planned – such as cookery and food-preparation demonstrations, dancing and singing performances.

The photographs here are reproduced under the Creative Commons licence. They show, from the top, Helensburgh’s renowned Hill House (photograph by Jeremy Atherton) , designed by architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and run by the National Trust for Scotland; and John Logie Baird, inventor of television.

Top Irish singer, Brian O hEadhra, in gig at Lochgoilhead

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Lochgilhead musiciansOn Sunday 22nd March at 3.00pm at Lochgoilhead Village Hall, the Fiddle Workshop presents three stellar traditional musicians.

Brian Ó hEadhra is originally from Dublin in Ireland. He is an accomplished traditional singer in Gaelic and English and an acclaimed song-writer. He has toured the world over with his band Anam playing festivals, concerts, TV & radio. He has also carved out a name for himself as the Gaelic Youth Development Officer for the Highland Region, and as the musical director of the Blas Festival.

Bruce MacGregor, is probably best known locally as the founder and driving force behind the multi award winning Blazin’ Fiddles. He also toured and recorded with the first incarnation of Gaelic supergroup Cliar. Taught by the great Donald Riddell, Bruce’s style encapsulates the finest points of Highland fiddle music – bold and rugged at times, lyrical and beautiful at others.  Bruce MacGregor hails from Inverness and is a player equally at home with the rugged strathspey or the tender slow air, he has combined the qualities of both East and West coast styles in an invigorating and expressive individualistic style. ‘Bruce MacGregor has something of the Midas touch. This has nothing to do with luck, it has everything to do with a deep love and affinity for his music and a unique talent.’ (Fiddle On)

Sandy Brechin is one of the most popular accordionists in the country and is best known for his bands: Burach, The Sandy Brechin Band and his electric cèilidh band The Sensational Jimi Shandrix Experience. Born and raised in the village of Kirkliston, in West Lothian, Sandy is now based in Edinburgh, where, as well as teaching, recording and performing, he runs his own record company.

This trio blend some of the finest musicianship and singing to come out of Scotland and Ireland in recent years. They first performed together as the House Band at Hebridean Celtic Festival 2006 in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis. Individually they perform with their own highly acclaimed acts, but it is as a trio that they are now carving out a high profile. Sue Wilson of the Herald said of their cd: ‘A sparkling array of instrumentals matches drive with delicacy, soul with swing and fire with finesse, potently interspersed with the timeless eloquence of Gaelic song’.

These three seasoned artistes draw on a wealth of tunes and songs from the Gaelic and Scots traditions. Not only are Bruce, Sandy and Brian excellent musicians, but they are also loved by audiences for their witty and entertaining live performance: “Perfectly pitched mix of lively dance tunes, evocative slow airs and Gaelic songs earned both rapt attention and noisy applause, culminating in a fully fledged cèilidh.” (Scotsman)

Tickets: Adults £10, Children 12-18 £5. Booking: Phone 01301 703504. More information on the Fiddle Workshop website.

Reporter: Mark Morpurgo

The photograph above of Brian O hEadhra, Bruce Macgregor and Sandy Brechin is reproduced here with permission.

Audit Committees from Argyll and Bute and East Renfrewshire Councils get together

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Members of Argyll and Bute Council’s audit committee have visited their opposite numbers on East Renfrewshire’s committee to swap experiences and to learn from one another.

East Renfrewshire’s audit committee regularly receives visitors from other councils keen to learn from its work which provides scrutiny of cabinet and council decisions as well as putting services under the microscope.

Argyll and Bute’s own audit committee appoints external ‘non-executives’ to the positions of chair and vice-chair to improve external challenge and scrutiny of the council’s governance and performance – a fact which was viewed by the Accounts Commission as a positive improvement in its own recent audit report.

Ian Ross, chair of Argyll and Bute Council’s audit committee said: ‘Our visit was most useful and we exchanged experiences of what it’s like to run audit committees in two very different council areas with very different political make-ups. My thanks go to Councillor Wallace, his committee members and council officers who made us most welcome’.

East Renfrewshire Council audit committee chair, Councillor Gordon Wallace said: ‘The visit was very successful and both we and our visitors learned a great deal from one another. We are always very pleased to share our expertise with other councils’.

A&B C and Renfrew Audit Committee visit

Pictured, left to right are: Bruce West, head of strategic finance, Argyll and Bute Council; Dr Christopher Valentine, Argyll and Bute audit committee vice-chair; Michelle Blair, East Renfrewshire chief auditor; Councillor Charlie Gilbert, East Renfrewshire audit committee member; Ian Ross, Argyll and Bute audit committee chair being welcomed by Councillor Gordon Wallace, East Renfrewshire audit committee chair; Ian Nisbet, Argyle and Bute internal audit manager; Linda Hutchison, clerk to the East Renfrewshire committee, Councillor Jim Swift, East Renfrewshire audit committee vice-chair and Councillor Andrew Nisbet, Argyll and Bute audit committee member.

The Garden Guzzler, Corran Halls, Oban

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On 16th March at 3.00pm at the Corran Halls in Oban there is another attractive show for children.

It is crisis time for King and Queen Flowerpot and their team of gardeners! The sun and clouds are holding a contest of power to decide which can most successfully ruin their beautiful garden! It’s up to Barker the little dog to find Tubby and his magic trowel. With his tiny helpers, Tubby sets about adapting the garden to suit the changing weather. Furious that not one of them can win, the sun and clouds together create a great storm and send down a bolt of lightning which strikes an old tree. They have created ‘The Garden Guzzler’ and it is very, very, hungry! What will Tubby do now…..?

Tickets: £4. Phone 01631 567333.

The Magic Horse.Corran Halls, Oban

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On 23rd March at 3.00pm at the Corran Halls in Oban, the Yugen Puppet Company present The Magic Horse.

Fingal is seeking his fortune when his tired old horse is taken and replaced by a magic one. The horse takes him to a prince, who guides him to a princess, who makes him perform a number of quests. But who will marry the Princess, Fingal or the Prince?

With colourful rod puppets in a cloth setting with patchwork trees, fields and sky, Yugen Puppet Company presents another of its charming productions using a story from our rich heritage of Scottish traditional tales

Tickets: £4. Phone: 01631 567333.

Oscar and the Deep Sea Pearl at Garelochhead

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On 27th March at 4.30om at Gibson Hall in Garelochhead, all present will see that the future of the ocean rests on one little mouse…

Oscar and his friend, Fin the Fish, are swept into an exciting underwater mystery in which they encounter the wicked Emperor Gritsklyter and a power which controls the whole sea.

Using UV lighting to present vivid, larger than life puppets, and featuring four great songs and lots of guitar playing from Oscar, this musical and colourful show is a much-loved family favourite from one Scotlands most popular companies.

Tickets cost £4 and £2 concessions.   Phone 01436 810403.

The Gaelic road sign debate

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Highland Council’s Gaelic Committee wants to increase the Gaelic signage on the A82, A9 and A96 and has asked Transport Minister, Stewart Stevenson to put bilingual signs on these three roads.

Mr Stevenson has committed himself to a review of the impact of the Gaelic signage already installed and wants to wait for this as the foundation for whatever decisions are to follow.

The Gaelic Committee has asked Mr Stevenson not to make the review an obstruction to the development of Gaelic signage.

With the review report not expected until 2011, the Scottish Government has now said it is looking at speeding up the review procedure.

The problem with this is that stable conclusions do depend on a long enough data stream for average patterns to be clearly manifest.

The Gaelic Committee wants to see the language made present more often to more people. Road signage is a potent instrument for this.

There is no doubt that Gaelic signage is an important cultural locator. It also acts as a clarifier of its English parallel and a guide to the proper pronunciation of the English name.

Take ‘Tyndrum’ as an example. A lot of people wrongly pronounce this ‘Tin Drum’. On the bilingual signs  the Gaelic ‘Taigh an Druim’ appears beside the English ‘Tyndrum’ and two things are immediately clear. It can’t sound like ‘Tin Drum’ and its location makes sense of its meaning.

It is being said that people spend longer looking at bilingual road signs than they do those in a single language. This is seen as a potential road safety factor, hence the Minister’s interest in the review’s eventual conclusions.

This concern would carry more theoretical weight if our road signage was already intelligent, safe and consistent and not corrupted with a certain focus on its earning capacity.

For example, anyone using the M8 between the Erskine Bridge and the Kingston Bridge – the major motorway through Scotland’s central belt – expecting a 70mph through run, can unknowingly break the speed limit.

This changes bewilderingly often, sometimes down to unexpectedly low speeds – and usually appearing on lollipop-high signs on the left hand side of the inside lane, masked absolutely by high sided vehicles frequently travelling this through-route.

The result is revenue generation for Strathclyde Police in speeding fines – and paranoid once-bitten motorists in outside lanes afraid to take their eyes off the inside verges, far from ready to react to developments ahead. This is a real danger to road safety.

Our signage is also distractingly inconsistent. A destination named on one sign is often totally absent from the next sign encountered, leaving drivers dangerously indecisive at key junctions.

Bilingual signage is far less of a hazard than any of these general features of our signage and much safer than the blizzard of road signs and over-bright reflectors to which we subject motorists.

Let’s have an overall review of the efficiency and safety of our current signage procedure and let bilingual signage go ahead without interruption.

Fundraising guide dog Travis and owner to do the West Highland Way again – this time from north to south, ending at Ibrox

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Scott Cunningham is a Larkhall man who lost his sight in 1993 and has already raised over £60,000 for Guide Dogs by walking long distance trails with his dog, Travis.

So far they’ve taken on The West Highland Way – South to North; The Pennine Way; the Southern Upland Way and the Speyside Way.

In April they will again do the West Highland Way – part of which runs through Argyll. But this time they will start in the north – the first man and guide dog to do the walk in this direction. They will finish, not at the usual point in Milngavie on the north-western approaches to Glasgow – but south across the Clyde at Rangers Football Club stadium, Ibrox. The intention is to get there in time for the club’s match against Motherwell on 11th April.

There’ll be an incentive to make the time since Scott and Travis will have some former Rangers players as well as two Royal Marines keeping them company on the trail.

The Guide Dogs organisation celebrates Scott’s and Travis’s achievements not just for the number of guide dogs trained with the money the pair have raised – but for the inspirational example set to others with sight impairments of all kinds. Gillian Moffitt, fundraising manager for Guide Dogs sees their successes as ‘a shining example of how blindness needn’t prevent people from achieving their goals’.

Fieldwork Exhibition at An Tobar

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FieldworkTobermory’s An Tobar hosts yet another innovative exhibition – Fieldwork – from 3rd March – 18th April, 10.00am – 4.00pm Mondays to Saturdays. Admission is free.

Fieldwork explores concepts of place and landscape and the work exhibited was part of the outcome of a field trip to Mull in 2008 by artists network, Land2. It includes photography, film, drawing and sculpture. It explores how art can engage with the problems and possibilities of place and landscape.

It features work by Judith Tucker, David Walker-Barker, Lily Markiewicz, Jane Millar, Gail Dickerson, Claire King, Ray Lafferty, Suze Adams, Josh Biggs and Iain Biggs.

Land2 is a creative, practice-led research group comprising a national network of artists and researchers with an interest in landscape and place-orientated research practice. The network meets regularly for exhibitions, symposiums and conferences. For more information on their work, visit the Land2 website.

In association with this exhibition, An Tobar is running two other events, both of which, like this exhibition, are in the For Argyll Events calendar. They are:

  • Methods of Engagement and Articulation of Landscape - on Monday 6 April 2009, from 11.30am – 5.00pm. This is an informal symposium, hosted by Land2, on their work featuring Land2 members, invited artists and local historians, with a view to opening a discussion focusing on and around various concepts of landscape. The day will also feature a screening of ‘Source’ by Dalziel + Scullion and the interdisciplinary event will be open to all those with an interest in land based art, landscape, history and geology. Booking is advisable. Cost: £5 to include tea, coffee, soup and cake. Phone An Tobar at: 01688 302211
  • The Crossover of Geology and Art - on Tuesday 7 April 2009 from 2.00pm – 5.00pm. This is a workshop by exhibiting artist, Gail Dickerson, exploring the crossover of geology and art by working with a wide variety of natural materials, including soil, peat, sand and shells. Cost is £10 and £8 for An Tobar members. Phone An Tobar at: 01688 302211

Scotland’s 1881 census online

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Original documents from Scotland’s census for 1881 – covering the lives of the 3.7 million people living in Scotland on 3 April, 1881 – have been put online.

Many of the online family history and genealogical services offer access to it and the official site is the General Register Office for Scotland – under its Scotland’s People pages.

The 1881 census includes the name, age, address and occupation of every citizen. Scotlands current Registrar General, Duncan Macniven, told the BBC:  ‘The images of the original 1881 Scottish census records will help bring people’s family history to life, offering visual evidence of our ancestors’ lives recorded in history. Having access to images of the records, as well as the transcribed data, enhances the genealogy experience for family historians and helps connect today’s generations with the past’.

In online terms,the 1881-1891 period was known as ‘the lost decade’ because original census documents were not digitised. What was there was a transcript shown progressively to be full of errors.

With digitised images of the original documents now available, genealogical research for this decade is on a much surer footing.